Touhou Histories Parsee Mizuhashi
by Soleirolia
Summary: Parsee Mizuhashi has finally taken it upon herself to tell someone about her past. A tale of romance, betrayal, jealousy and discrimination. The first story of Touhou Histories. Rated T for mild, sparse gore.
1. Introduction

~Introduction: Present Time~

* * *

It was a quiet day in the snowy Ancient City. Oni were running their market stalls, drinking in the warm glow of the fiery lanterns and spending time with their neighbours and family, with the silhouette of the Palace of the Earth Spirits ever present on the horizon. The city, inhabited by many subterranean Youkai and Oni, was always busy at the best of times. Today, however, it was mellow. On one of the main yet deserted streets was a traditional Japanese house, with a small wooden plaque hanging with _Hoshiguma _scrawled on it in rather large, haphazard script.

Yuugi Hoshiguma sat up from an unscheduled nap as she heard a sharp and recognizable knock at her front door. Yawning, she gulped down a mouthful or two of sake from her red dish and ambled over to the tatami door. The shackles around the blonde Oni's wrists scraped against the old material as she pried the stubborn construct open to greet her visitor.

"Yuugi, were you asleep? That's nothing new." a rather irritated voice asked before the door had even fully opened. Chuckling, Yuugi stepped aside from the door and fully slid it open, wearing the confident wide grin that Oni were very keen to use should the situation arise.

"Parsee, come on in. Can I get you some tea, or sake, or whatever?" the Oni laughed. With a perturbed sigh, Parsee, shaking her head politely, headed inside and perched on a lone wooden chair that sat in the dusty corner of the room, her shoes making a quiet and dull shuffle against the venerable floor. Yuugi strolled over rather laboriously, dragging another chair and taking a seat opposite her green-eyed visitor.

"Yuugi, you know when you told me about your past? And then you said one day I'd probably have to return the favour..?" Parsee asked in a casual yet quite reluctant manner, her viridian eyes following the Oni's every move.

"Uh-huh. You've decided to come and tell ol' Yuugi about your life history, eh?"

"Mm... it's a long story, so I hope you have enough patience to hear it all..."

"Oh, come on, do you know who you're talking to? I'm an Oni, silly, we have as much patience as sake here!"

"Gr..." Parsee hissed under her breath in envy, before taking a deep intake of break and sighing again, "Yuugi, I'm serious... I haven't told anyone else before. It took me ages to get up the courage to tell you this, so don't be kidding around!"

The Oni raised her hands in surrender with a quiet laugh, taking another sip of her alcohol whilst she did so, "It's okay, it's okay. You know what I'm like, Parsee. No, I promise I'll be serious, go on, go on. Don't forget, you can stop if you want. I know your past must have been, eh, a bit rough, so don't feel pressure from me to keep goin'."

With a little hesitation that drew out the silence for what seemed to be an eternity, Parsee finally leaned forward and began to relay the tale of her past, recalling each moment with unrivalled clarity as if the events had just occurred the previous day.

* * *

A/N: This is the first chapter of the first installment to my Touhou Histories series, a look back at the past lives of some of Gensokyo's denizens. This is only a small introduction now, just to give you all a heads-up about the Touhou Histories series. I don't know which backstory I shall write after Parsee's so make a suggestion or two in your review.

~Soleirolia.


	2. Part 1 The History Begins

Part 1 ~ The History Begins

* * *

Well, to begin my story... I lived in the village that is now known as the Human Village on the surface. It was not long before Gensokyo's separation from the outside world, and Hell's separation from the underground, so obviously the denizens of the village were probably more superstitious and less cautious of actual Youkai back then... I can't remember whether that were-hakutaku - Keine - was around back then, but I never saw her.

Back then, I was much different to how I am now. I had brown eyes, for one thing, but I still had blonde hair. I think around that time, I was 14. To this day, it escapes me... anyway, enough about me...

My family, which was a pretty large one even back then, were very poor in contrast to the rest of the village. They believed in patriarchal hierachy, and since I was the youngest child, daughter for that matter, I was at rock bottom. I hated it. All the while, they found faults in what I did and where I did it. I was always compared to my older and more successful siblings: my brother received an invitation to the village army, my sister had recently got married and my other brother was the most intelligent boy in his school... I don't even want to try and recall their names, I hated them too much to care. Each of them made my blood boil like acid with jealousy and resentment, and I suppose they felt the same way about me.

I can also say the same for my parents. My mother was Persian, and extremely greedy. Piles and piles of junk littered every room of the house, simply because she didn't want to sell any of it. In hindsight, we would have been fine if she had just gotten rid of about a quarter of what she was hoarding. My father was Japanese, and native to the village, and it was through their lack of creativity that I was given the most bizarre first name: Parsee. It was something to do with my mother's religion... Zoro... Zoroastri-... I can't remember.

I was looked down upon like a steaming pile of manure on their shoes. Whatever I did, there was criticism. Whoever I talked about, there was criticism. If I so much as thought about saying anything slightly derogatory about anyone, I was immediately exiled to my bedroom and refused any food for the rest of the day.

Well, back to the day of focus... due to my parents' lack of budgeting or common sense, I was sent out in the streets to panhandle, or beg, for some money to buy my father some alcohol. Strangely enough, that was where most of the money went. I spent several hours on the street, and only managed to get myself enough money for a small piece of paper from the secondhand store. Only one person gave me any money, and I saw that they had several thousands of yen in disposable income. They were even on their way home. Who returns home after market day with enough money to buy the entire street and each resident's domesticated animal? It made me so envious that there were people in this village with enough money to leave and build their own, whilst people like me were still contemplating taking bamboo from the bamboo forest, about a kilometre south of the village, and utilizing it for sustenance. In hindsight, I really should have been more respectful, but my mind was drained from not having eaten for two whole days.

As he walked off, I saw where he was headed. The shrine. The village shrine. It was a small building, but large enough to warrant a need for a cleaning. I had often done cleaning at home, so I thought I knew quite a bit about it and how to do it. Besides, from what I had heard, the shrine maiden there was nice enough. What I didn't think of then was just how greedy I would sound, asking to clean that small shrine for money to feed an unworthy family. Like I said, I hadn't eaten in a while. It drained me of most logical thought processes.

So, swerving around the busy market stalls, busy people and the occasional livestock animal, I headed towards the shrine... no... I ran towards the shrine. Just standing outside the front door, I could see the shrine maiden dusting the front path of golden leaves. On her face was an expression that could be interpreted as 'emotionless husk of a devoted worshipper', but I later learned that she was just bitter around this time of the year. She had jet black hair and black eyes, and was a fairly plain girl. Her shrine maiden outfit was just as plain: a white shirt with a red sort of choppy skirt with a big bow at the front.

"Hello." I called, in as friendly of a way as I could at that time. The shrine maiden just glared up at me and returned to her sweeping. I repeated myself, yet that only irritated her more.

"What?" she yelled. It was such a sharp yell that I couldn't help but flinching.

"I was going to ask if you needed help with cleaning and maintaining the shrine? See, I'm from a very poor-" I began, but she cut me off before I could finish.

"I'm not stupid. I know who you are." she hissed. "You're the youngest daughter of Mr Mizuhashi, aren't you?"

"Yes. Listen, I-" I tried to reason with her, but she was hearing none of it.

"You what?" she cut me off. It was stupid. Why ask someone what they are going to say before they even finish saying it?

"I was going to ask you if I could maybe do some odd jobs at the shrine for a bit of money?" It was worth a try. I have never been one to sound nice, and I probably didn't back then.

"I will never let you work at this shrine! You, Parsee Mizuhashi, are a demon! I've seen you begging for money! The amount of malicious energy that you harbour within your soul is sickening! I hope to the gods that you can purge your soul of this malice, or be banished to Hell forever more. Now, I order you to leave this holy ground! "

I really see the irony in what she said and where I am now... in a way. Without another word, I turned around to leave... only to see most of the villagers were watching it unfold. Amongst those villagers... were my two brothers. I saw them run home... probably to rant about me to our parents. With a small growl of annoyance, I trudged home and tried to ignore the whispered insults that were now being passed around like a virus.

When I returned home, I was told to sit down in a very stern tone of voice... one that used my full name. My mother looked absolutely revolted to see me, and my father glared at me like I was a demon fresh from Hell. The two buckets of manure that had told my parents of the incident that had just occurred were smirking in the corner.

"Parsee... I cannot believe that you would disgrace the Mizuhashi name like that." my father growled. His tone of voice was so intimidating, it made me want to curl up in the corner and die. "Offending the village shrine maiden and causing a scene in public... I do hope you know how sinful this makes the rest of us look."

How? How did it? I only made myself look bad! Regardless, I sucked it in. "Father, I'm sorry."

"Well... your mother and I have already decided a punishment. As you don't know, your grandmother recently sent a letter containing our share of your grandfather's fortune. He died, Parsee, and we are to use this money wisely, by not spending any of it on food or other items that you can use."

That hit hard. I had already been starved for two days, and he was going to deprive me of food further? It made a really heavy feeling in my stomach... a feeling that I should strike out... lash out... do anything just to survive. Sat there, I began shaking. I remained that way for about five minutes before my father started to actually care.

"Parsee!" my father barked, "I'm talking to you! You better go to your room this instant and wait through your fasting. This is the only way for you to repent for the deities of the village, so get going... I said get going!"

I couldn't help it. My body moved on its own. I lunged across the table, grabbing a porcelain bowl as I clambered over the rockety wooden table and attacking him. Throwing the bowl, it smashed in his face and left several large gashes on his cheeks and nose. Without even stopping, I began clawing at his neck with my weak hands. My mother immediately ran over and prised me off by my wrists, holding my arms apart as I continued to thrash. On the other hand, my father fell backwards and landed against the wall, holding his wounded face whilst staring at me with a look of panic and paralysed fear.

"She's demonic!" my mum cried, with an extremely heavy accent. It was almost hilarious to hear her speak, as her accent was so terrible. "My own daughter is possessed!"

Obviously, I wasn't possessed, I was just extremely, extremely angry. I was dragged outside by my arms, kicking and screaming, and thrown onto the porch. Staggering, I turned to face my mother. On her face was a mixture of fear and hatred. It was almost sickening to see.

"J-Just go, Parsee. I can't call you my daughter anymore. Go. You aren't part of this family anymore." she whispered, not meeting my eyes. It hurt to see her like that, regardless of how much I hated her.

Silent, I ran. I don't know why, but I ran. My emotions were piling over each other, fighting for dominance in my mind. My only thought was to run back to the shrine and try to find solace.

The shrine maiden had other plans. She excused herself from attending to a family leaving a donation and walked to meet me at the entrance.

"I told you to leave. You shouldn't be here."

"Look, I just got disowned by my own family." I explained, as apologetically as I could, "Can I stay here? I-I'll work for free!"

"No!" the shrine maiden harshly retaliated. "You are a sinner, I can't have you here."

This argument lasted for a good hour or so. I felt my emotions get more and more frantic. Then, she lifted her shrine maiden stick with the paper streamers on - a gohei, I think it's called - and glared at me.

"You are going to leave, or do I need to seal you and throw you into the inn myself?"

Then... something strange happened. I can explain it now, but it's still rather confusing as to how I managed to do it. The ground started to shake, and I stared her in the eye.

"I... am not a demon!" I screeched. Around me, this large sort of magical circle that encompassed the whole shrine began to form. Then... it started to glow. After several seconds, it sent up a massive green... laser. Quite like the infamous Master Spark I have heard so much about. It reached up to the sky, and began to destroy everything that was contained in the magical circle.

...It destroyed the shrine. The shrine maiden, the praying family, the shrine... disintegrated. I was exhausted.

Everything turned black, and I fell and hit the ground, unconscious.

* * *

A/N: Well, as you can tell, this story is told from the point of view of Parsee, apart from the very first and the very last chapters that will be uploaded. I will probably upload one per day, as there are about another 4-6 chapters left to write and upload. I have to get all of this uploaded before the end of the week, as I'm moving house and will not have access to the internet for a few months.

In the meantime, more suggestions are always welcome for the next installment of Touhou Histories. If you have a character you want me to give a backstory to, please leave a review containing your suggestion. (No OCs or characters with previously-told backstories. Try subtle, easily-forgotten characters.)


End file.
